Moths and related forms of lepidoptera continue to be pests that are difficult to control with selective baits. Traditional control measures typically include aerial sprays over plants located in a designated geographical area during the larval stage of the target pest. The larvae die as they consume the insecticide-bearing foliage and/or are contacted by the spray. Unfortunately, there are concerns over the impact of such area treatments on nontarget insects as well as humans within or entering the area.
The art has proposed a number of lepidoptera baits that include a diet component and toxicants in a wide variety of formulations and physical forms. The diet generally is a sugar. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,424,410 and 4,515,813. These baits tend to rely on the scent of the diet component and the lepidoptera's ability to sense the diet from a distance. Such scents can be subject to reduced effectiveness due to prevailing or unforseen wind currents that carry the diet scent away from the baited area thereby reducing the effectiveness of the bait. Indeed, it would be useful to have a bait that attracted the target lepidoptera to the bait with a means that did not rely on olfactory sensing of the diet component.